Preparing for the Next Pandemic Requires Broader Research Strategies

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) today called on researchers and governments to strengthen and accelerate global research to prepare for the next pandemic.

They emphasized the importance of expanding research to encompass entire families of pathogens that can infect humans–regardless of their perceived pandemic risk–and focusing on individual pathogens.

The report’s authors likened its updated recommendation to imagining scientists as individuals searching for lost keys on the street (the next pandemic pathogen).

The area illuminated by the streetlight represents well-studied pathogens with known pandemic potential. By researching prototype pathogens, we can expand the lighted area and gain knowledge and understanding of pathogen families that might be in the dark.

The dark spaces in this metaphor include many regions of the world, particularly resource-scarce settings with high biodiversity, which are still under-monitored and understudied. These places might harbor novel pathogens but lack the infrastructure and resources to conduct comprehensive research.

“WHO’s scientific framework for epidemic and pandemic research preparedness is a vital shift in how the world approaches countermeasure development and one that CEPI strongly supports.... this framework will help steer and coordinate research into entire pathogen families, a strategy that aims to bolster the world’s ability to swiftly respond to unforeseen variants, emerging pathogens, zoonotic spillover, and unknown threats referred to as pathogen X”, said Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, in a press release on August 1, 2024.

The prioritization work underpinning the report involved over 200 scientists from more than 50 countries, who evaluated the science and evidence on 28 virus families and one core group of bacteria, encompassing 1652 pathogens.